About MarketingExperiments Blog

MarketingExperiments was the first internet based research lab to conduct experiments in optimizing marketing and sales processes. Our research team has developed the world’s largest collection of optimization-related experiments and case studies, which is disseminated (free) via the MarketingExperiments Journal and www.marketingexperiments.com. The MarketingExperiments Blog complements our research with additional news, insights, analysis and interviews from our team. It also provides another venue to exchange ideas with our community of marketing, optimization and sales professionals. We invite you to comment on and share blog posts, as well as the blog itself, and play an active role in our shared mission to “discover what really works” in optimization.

If you are interested in contributing to the MarketingExperiments blog, consider joining our team. Please review career opportunities here.

The MarketingExperiments Bloggers

		Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content, MECLABS Dan oversees all editorial content coming from the MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa brands – helping our team of reporters dig for actionable information while serving as an advocate for the audience. Previously, he was the main writer powering MarketingExperiments publishing engine – from Web clinics to Research Journals to the blog. Prior to joining the team, Dan was Vice President of MindPulse Communications – a boutique communications consultancy specializing in IT clients such as IBM, VMware, and BEA Systems. Dan has ten years of experience in copywriting, editing, internal communications, sales enablement, and marketing communications. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Gaby Paez, Associate Director of Research, Conversion Group Gaby’s passion is to bring new perspectives to testing by analyzing customer behavior. Currently, Gaby is part of the Business Intelligence team leading competitive and industry research projects. Gaby joined MarketingExperiments as Research Analyst in October 2006. Since then, she has led research projects with partners ranging from Encyclopedia Britannica and The New York Times to ActualMe and Bottega Verde. Before joining MarketingExperiments, Gaby worked on new media opportunities for The PGA TOUR, coordinated customer loyalty program research for Lands’ End, and managed Internet projects for British American Tobacco in Venezuela. She holds a B.S. in Systems Engineering from Universidad Metropolitana in Venezuela, and an MBA in Marketing from Vanderbilt University. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		David Green, Director, Marketing Partnerships Dave is responsible for partnerships with companies who market to the marketing community. Dave has also written and spoken widely on all facets of lead generation. In 2004, he teamed with Michael Saylor to co-author The B2B Refinery, a book about scalable lead generation. Among his successes, Dave helped Avaya implement a methodology resulting in $1 billion in the pipeline in the first 20 months.Blog Posts | Twitter
		Scott Howard, Executive Director of Operations, MECLABS Scott is the man that keeps the trains running on time for all research projects in the laboratory. Before joining MarketingExperiments in May 2008, Scott was the Vice President and Head of Pre-Settlement Operations for Macquarie Bank and has held operational leadership roles for other financial industry firms such as Countrywide Home Loans, PHH Mortgage, and Merrill Lynch. Scott holds a degree from the highly ranked Department of Economics at Indiana University in Bloomington. In his free time, he uses his operational expertise to teach 11-year-olds the mechanics of the 6-4-3 double play. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Bob Kemper, Senior Director of Sciences, MECLABS As Director of Sciences for MarketingExperiments’ parent company, the MECLABS Group, Bob manages enterprise experimentation and discovery processes for the corporation and for the individual operating companies, including MarketingSherpa. He serves on the Curriculum and Alumni boards for the Executive MBA program of the Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University, and on the board of the Jacksonville chapter of the National Association of Business Economists (NABE). Over the last 25 years, Bob has practiced and managed engineering and business operations in companies ranging in size from 12 to 55,000 employees, and served as Manager of Technology Planning & Asset Management, Director of Finance, and Chief of Operations. Among his personal interests, he lists tennis, gymnastics, and applied statistics. Blog Posts
		David Kirkpatrick, Senior Reporter, MECLABS David is a reporter for MarketingSherpa and has more than 20 years of experience in business journalism, marketing and corporate communications. His published work includes newspaper, magazine and online journalism, as well as website content, full-length ghosted nonfiction, marketing content and short fiction. He served as producer for the business research horizontal at the original Office.com, regularly reporting on the world of marketing; covered a beat for D/FW TechBiz, a member of the American City Business Journals family; and he provided daily reporting for multiple LocalBusiness.com cities. David’s other media and corporate clients include: USA Today, Oxford Intelligence, GMAC, AOL, Business Development Outlook and C-Level Media, among many others. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Adam Lapp, Associate Director, Optimization and Strategy, Conversion Group Adam joined MarketingExperiments as a Research Analyst in September 2006. Prior to that, he attended the Masters program at the University of North Florida in the department of Literature. While at MarketingExperiments, Adam has filled several roles such as research project manager, writer, and paid search manager. Adam specializes in website optimization, usability, SEO, Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer, and social media. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Austin McCraw, Content Production Manager, MECLABS From web clinics to certification courses, Austin works behind the scenes to bring our research analysts’ discoveries to our audience in clear and creative ways. Before joining MarketingExperiments, Austin was the Promotions Director for a PBS affiliate in Gainesville where he was in charge of publicizing local and national programming. A graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, Austin specializes in new media and video production by day and producing family memories with his wife and two children by night. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Jon Powell, Senior Manager, Research and Strategy Jon mostly works with financial industry research partners and is well respected around the lab for his keen test planning and scheduling abilities. Before joining MarketingExperiments in April 2007, Jon managed relationships with advertisers and supporters in publications like Massage magazine and Chiropractic Economics. He holds a BA in Integrated Marketing Communications from Wichita State University and when not managing research partnerships, Jon spends his free time leading the nonprofit FIBC Traditional Taekwondo school. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Nathan Thompson, Senior Manager, Research & Strategy As the lead analyst for the Research Partnership with a large financial institution, Nathan is adept at generating greater ROI from already high-performing websites and email marketing for enterprise-size marketers. But in his previous role as the Director of Online Sales for venture-backed Internet music startup Grooveshark.com, he also learned how to craft effective online marketing for startup companies where the potential is far greater than the marketing budget. With a B.S. in Public Relations and Entrepreneurship from the University of Florida, Nathan has a sense for not only how to run a successful business but how to let everyone know you’re running a successful business. Like all good Web marketers, he asks that you look out for his book as soon as he gets around to writing one. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Gina Townsend, Director of Operations, Conversion Group At MarketingExperiments, Gina leads a team of research analysts that have driven double-digit ROI gains for e-commerce and financial industry Research Partners. Before joining MarketingExperiments in June 2006, she ran the creative team at SECURE-RES (now Vizergy), an internet marketing firm that specializes in hotels and resorts. After graduating from Flagler College with a B.A. in Communications, she began her career at direct marketing company Harte-Hanks, where she managed enterprise accounts in the financial, automotive, and insurance industries. When she’s not rebuilding websites for maximum results, she’s renovating her home at the beach. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Spencer Whiting, Research Analyst, MECLABS Spencer brings his extensive experience in small business, sales, marketing, and start up management to MarketingExperiments. He has been involved with five startups as a senior employee and has four years of small business turn around consulting experience in businesses spanning the hospitality, B2B and non-profit sectors. His creativity and understanding of what it takes to succeed in business today benefits our Research Partners by helping to create real-world solutions to achieve success. He is fascinated by the opportunities presented by the Internet to change business in a profound way. His passions in life are his wife, Snowden, ballroom dancing, the Boston sports scene, and sailing. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Paul Cheney, Editorial Analyst, MECLABS Paul helps turn raw research into easy-to-understand content for MarketingExperiments readers. He earned his B.A. in English Literature from Covenant College. Before joining the MarketingExperiments team, Paul wrote grant proposals and fundraising letters for a mid-size nonprofit in New Jersey. He has also worked as a freelance Internet marketing consultant and copywriter for small businesses. In his spare time, Paul enjoys reading, writing poems, and dating his wife, Callie. Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter
		Selena Blue, Reporter, MECLABS As part of Primary Research, Selena edits copy on everything from blogs to benchmark reports. Before joining MECLABS, she worked in two nonprofits, writing and editing communications, planning events and developing media databases. She also did freelance work as a copywriter. She holds a BS in Communications and a MS in Integrated Marketing and Management Communications, both from Florida State University. Outside of work, Selena enjoys reading, waterskiing and volunteering.Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter
		Diana Sindicich, Data Analyst, Sciences Group Diana assists researchers from all sections of MECLABS with the design and administration of meaningful research studies and web page tests. Before joining MECLABS, she served as an Assistant Professor of Apparel, Textiles and Interior Design at Kansas State University. With varied interests spanning both the scientific and the creative ends of the spectrum, her past research has focused on consumer viewpoints of garment sizing, using survey methods and emerging technologies such as CAD software and 3D body scanners to isolate areas of opportunity for apparel manufacturers. At Kansas State she also worked on a Marine Corps interdisciplinary research team at the Institute for Environmental Research alongside mechanical engineers, computer scientists and textile technologists to generate a finite element model of the clothed soldier. Her research has been published in peer reviewed journals and presented at conferences across the country. Diana holds a PhD in Textiles and Consumer Sciences from Florida State University. When she is not assisting researchers, she enjoys playing with her daughter, helping out in her husband’s comic book store, singing classical and jazz, playing the piano and creating one of a kind fashions for her friends and family.Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter
		Andrea Johnson, Editorial Manager, MECLABS As an Editorial Manager for MECLABS, Andrea Johnson develops content for both MECLABS and its Research Partners – from articles to landing pages to emails to blogs. Her goal is to give audiences actionable knowledge that will create more opportunities and revenue, and help them be more effective, productive and happier. Andrea is a journalist who has more than two decades of marketing communications and public relations experience in B2B consulting, senior living and healthcare, nonprofit, real estate, and telecommunications. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Benjamin Filip, Data Analyst, MECLABS Ben assists the researchers at MECLABS with data management and interpretation. He has conducted exploratory data analysis in many diverse fields of business and helped optimize the productivity and resource use of companies. Before working for MECLABS, Ben was an instructor of statistics at The Florida State University. While teaching, he earned his Master of Science in Biostatistics from The Florida State University. He has held positions at companies in the financial, manufacturing and transportation industries. When not crunching data at MECLABS, Ben enjoys golf, music, camping/hiking, traveling, swimming, kayaking and other water sports/activities.Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		John Tackett, Editorial Analyst, MECLABS As a member of the MECLABS Editorial Content team, John helps turn raw research into easy-to-understand content for MarketingExperiments readers. Before MECLABS, John served for eight years in the U.S Army Military Police Corps as a military law enforcement instructor. John provided training to military personnel in the United States, Germany and Afghanistan. John holds his Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of North Florida where he worked in radio broadcast production as a volunteer at Osprey radio. In his spare time, John enjoys reading, gardening, 5k runs and home beer brewing.Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Anuj Shrestha, Data Analyst, MECLABS Anuj assists the MECLABS research team and Research Partners by providing insights based on data analysis that can be useful in the optimization process and internal procedures. Utilizing quantitative information to draw conclusions and applying them to make lives easier has always been his passion. He graduated from University of North Florida with B.S. in Mathematics. He has tutored many high school and college students taking Mathematics and Statistics courses, and enjoyed showing students how statistical methods are often applied in science, business and other fields. Besides crunching numbers, solving equations and proving theorems, Anuj enjoys playing guitar, martial arts, comedy, reading, politics and world history.Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Lauren Maki, Optimization Manager, MECLABS Lauren guides her colleagues in improving the online marketing efforts of MECLABS Research Partners. She develops test plans and strategies, hypotheses, and research questions to clarify what works and what doesn’t to drive the highest number of conversions and most revenue.Lauren has a bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Florida, where she graduated with highest honors and received the Advertising Federation’s Gold ADDY award in the Student Magazine Campaign division. While attaining her degree, she served in account services, advertising consulting, business development and graphic design at several organizations, including The Golf Channel, Planet Hollywood and Beloved Experiential. She is an avid student of life, with a passion for psychology and art.Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Courtney Eckerle, Reporter, MECLABS With a focus on inbound and email marketing, Courtney’s goal is to produce clear, interesting and actionable external content for MarketingExperiments readers. She earned her B.A. in English Literature, Mass Communications and Film Studies from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind. She has worked as a writer and sports photographer for The University of Notre Dame Observer, and was a collegiate correspondent for USA Today College prior to joining MECLABS. In her spare time, Courtney enjoys kayaking, travel, reading and photography.Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter

Several other MarketingExperiments Team members, present and retired, also contribute to this blog, including: Brad Bortone,  Zuzia Soldenhoff-Thorpe, Dr. Chuck Coker, Kaci Bower, Adam T. Sutton, David Meerman Scott, Joelle Parra, Heather Andruk, Hunter Boyle, Greg Burningham, Adam Davis, Peg Davis, Jimmy Ellis, Anna Jacobson, Andy Mott, Aaron Rosenthal, Arturo Silva, Corey Trent, Nick Usborne, Dustin Eichholt, Brad Bortone, and Zuzia Soldenhoff-Thorpe.